Preparing for War Part Three: Come The Dawn

Alright, I have another short installment for Preparing for War, and I hope you all enjoy it!

*******************************************

The decision was made without discussion, and according to Shelaich without due consideration. Bregda’s army set out down the mountains that sunfall. As they made their way north the temperate mountain forests gave way to steamy jungles, and the heat of each day seeped through their scales, warming bones that had grown cool. Her warriors were happy for this, and Bregda saw the moral of her army slowly grow to boistrous heights. Much of their march was accompanied by songs and chants filled with bloody violence. Some told of wars long past, but many bragged of the deeds that various warriors would perform in the battle that they expected to fight when they reached the coast, and the camp that the invaders had established there.

However, while the army luxuriated in the heat and moisture of the jungle depths, Bregda worried about her father’s vision, and what they would find at the end of their journey. It was a six dark journey north from the high coastal cliffs where they’d made their camp, and his vision had given them little clear idea of its timing. So, as they marched under the dripping canopy and sang their songs of war, Bregda secretly hoped and fretted, wondering if they would find themselves faced with a power that was beyond her understanding.

It was sunfall when they approached the coast, and less than half a dark’s march before to the enemy camp when Bregda ordered a halt. She met with the females from her clan, with her father and the other mystics in the army, and formulated a clear idea of what the attack would look like. Unlike many clans that had only one or two significant bloodlines, her army boasted many. They had a contingent of skyborn that would take wing and attack any enemy mystics that they could find behind the lines; and they also had a contingent of ghosts, whose had set off immediately, fading into invisibility to scout the invader’s camp. The army also boasted fire and earth born, who would form the backbone of their assault, tearing at the ground underneath the invaders, and assailing them with sword and flame. Lastly, her army had attracted both a small contingent of the giant Famhairean, who towered over their smaller brethren and would attack first, losing themselves in combat and destroying everything they could find, along with a group of the Fada, dedicated warriors whose claws could tear through the shields and armor of most clans. They would strike the center, between the fire and earth born, and break their enemies will.

The planning went quickly now that the enemy was so close, and there was little argument even from those who had opposed the march. The first of the ghosts began to arrive back around highmoon to report that the enemies numbers had grown, but not more than expected, and to lay out the walls of the camp and where they had marked units of the dead, and where the living were stationed. By the time the moon had started its descent from the heaven’s heights, her army was on the move, and Bregda shivered with a mix of fear and excitement. Come the dawn their attack would begin, and the invader’s blood would soak the sand.